Office Supplies
by PaperHat
Summary: Tim and Tony have an 'accident' and go into hiding. Tempers get a little frayed and things get out of hand. It's up to Gibbs to sort things out.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer - I do not own NCIS_

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"Quick Probie! In here!"

Tony grabbed Tim by the collar and pulled him into the office supplies room.

"I think we'll be safe in here. He never gets his own stationery."

"Oh God Tony we are in so much trouble," Tim groaned still out of breath from his speed run away from the bullpen with Tony.

"It was an accident McGee, but 'you know who' isn't going to see it like that."

Tim threw himself down on top of the boxes of paper and held his head in his hands,

"Point one Tony, the evidence we've left behind clearly indicates that it was not an accident and point two, if it was an accident, why are we hiding?"

Tony winced, "because it's Gibbs, McWorrier, he kinda views our 'accidents' like coincidences, he doesn't entirely believe in them."

"We are screwed!" Tim whined pitifully.

Tony sat on the rickety table in the small office supplies room and sighed, "I can't believe you didn't catch the football McGee, I mean, no-one is that bad at sports!"

Tim narrowed his eyes and stared with an open mouth,

"No, no, no, you are not pinning the guilt for this one on me! It was your idea to play with that stupid football. It's not my fault it ended up smashing the plasma screen!"

"At least it didn't shatter too much, there wasn't much glass left on the floor."

"We can't exactly glue it back together again Tony!" Tim squeaked.

"I was just saying…"

"Tony, we were playing football in the middle of a federal building, we broke a pretty expensive top of the range plasma screen and now we've gone AWOL while we hide from our boss, an ex-marine, who is probably going to make us die a very painful death when he does find us!"

"There's no such thing as an ex-marine."

Tim placed a hand on his brow, "We cannot stay in here for ever Tony, Oh God, I can't believe I got myself into this mess, I'm going to throw up. Gibbs is going to go crazy. I can't believe we broke a plasma screen. He's….he's…..I'm gonna be sick!"

Tony sprang to Tim and held his shoulders firmly, "McGee! Breathe! That's an order Probie! Breathe! In! Out! That's it….calm down!"

As Tim calmed down he looked at Tony grinning and his instincts kicked in.

WHACK!

Tony reeled at the blow to his jaw and stood with his hand on the tender area and stared wide eyed in disbelief.

"I can't believe you just did that," he said quietly still shocked at McGee's reaction.

"If you hadn't forced me to play football we wouldn't be in this mess," Tim barked,

"If you didn't play football like a little girl with her hands tied behind her back then the plasma screen would not have gotten smashed!"

Tim went red, "I am not a girl Tony!" he yelled as he lunged forward wrestling him to the ground.

The two of them rolled around the floor until Tony managed to stand and pull McGee up, he took a swing at his jaw and sent him crashing into the shelf. In slow motion the shelf toppled over creating a landslide of rulers, notebooks of various shapes and sizes, cartons of pencils, boxes of rubber bands and marker pens all on top of McGee.

Tim struggled to his feet and ran Tony into the other shelf which thudded against the wall and then as they wrestled on the floor gained momentum and came crashing down to rest on the other shelf, leaving Tony and Tim hidden under a sea of colored paper stock forms.

Jethro Gibbs had been gone for coffee for fifteen minutes when he strolled back into the bullpen his eyes immediately alighting on the cracked plasma screen. He narrowed his eyes with anger as he registered the empty desks of Agent Timothy McGee and Agent Anthony DiNozzo.

"Before you say anything I was not here when it happened, I came back from the lab only five minutes ago. I have been trying to reach Tony and McGee but I cannot find them" Ziva quickly growled.

As he placed the coffee cup on his desk he noticed the scarlet and gray football lying on the floor and as he bent down to pick it up, he heard the crashing sound from along the corridor.

"What the hell?" he said firmly as he rushed towards the noise.

At the sound of the second crash, he immediately recognized the door which the noise was coming from and opened it up sharply.

Tim McGee and Tony DiNozzo struggled beneath the piles of stationery covering them until they were sitting up and noticed the large figure appear and the newly opened door.

"Hey boss!" Tony said lightly.

_To be continued..._

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	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer - I do not own NCIS_

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"Uh….Gibbs, it isn't what it looks like," Tim spluttered

"Is that a fact McGee…..on your feet….NOW!"

Within a few seconds both were standing upright, Tony picked a paper clip from McGee's head and he swiped his hand away.

"You had a paper clip in your hair!" Tony snapped.

Tim scowled, "Leave me alone!"

"Fine, have your paper clip back!" Tony barked as he slammed the paper clip back on Tim's head.

Another scuffle of flailing arms began and Jethro Gibbs frowned as he stretched out both arms and gripped hold of an ear in each hand.

"Oooowwww! Boss, aaaaooowww…that hurts!!"

"Aaaarrrgggh! Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!...boss please!!"

The squeals continued as the two agents were dragged back to the bullpen. Gibbs continued to keep hold of them as he turned them to face the broken plasma screen.

"I want an explanation," he said coldly

"Aaarrrggghhhh….it was McGee's fault boss…ooowww….can't you let go for a second?"

"It was not my fault….oww! boss haaaa….that really hurts!"

Gibbs eventually let go of their ears and whacked them both upside the head.

"McGee explanation now!"

Tim held his ear gently, tears almost spooling from his eyes.

"T..Tony and I were playing football, he threw it at me and I….uh…..missed the catch and it kind of….uhm…..broke the plasma screen."

Tony narrowed his eyes and pouted as McGee continued to spill the beans.

"He uh….then decided we should make a run for it and we ended up in the supply room and then he started to make fun of me and…well…I uh…things got a little out of hand."

Gibbs inhaled deeply, "DiNozzo?"

"Probie was his usual geeky self, matching the motor skills of a pre-schooler and has unresolved issues about handling some home truths about himself!"

Gibbs once more whacked him across the head,

"DiNozzo, if you realized how much trouble you were in I'd doubt that you'd continue with the wise-ass comments."

Tony gulped and stood stone-faced.

"The two of you will share the cost of the repair to the screen and you'd better hope that it can be repaired else you'll be financing the cost of a replacement."

Both boys groaned at the impending cost to their wallets and watched as Gibbs lifted up the small football, "I assume that this Ohio State football belongs to you DiNozzo?"

"Umm….yes boss."

Sticking his hand into his pocket Gibbs withdrew his knife and flicked his wrist revealing the blade which he stuck into the football immediately deflating it.

"This is a federal building, not a football field. If I have to remind either of you two of that in future, it will not be a football that will be drop kicked it will be you out of this building. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes boss."

"As crystal boss!"

Gibbs placed the football in the trash and then started to head back towards the supply room.

"With me!" he growled and Tony and Tim quickly followed his lead.

Tim swallowed hard as he surveyed the damage in the supply room and bit his bottom lip nervously as he kept an eye on Gibbs reaction.

Gibbs beckoned them both into the room with his finger.

"I want this place squared away by 1900."

Tony and Tim nodded sheepishly, having already accepted the fact that they were bound to have been asked to clear up the mess that they had made.

"And you will put to the side anything that has been broken or cannot be used so that we can add the cost of the replacement to that for the plasma screen."

Tony frowned, "you're going to charge us for a broken pencil?"

Gibbs stared.

"Ok. Broken stuff to the side. Got it boss!"

"Do any of you need to use the head?" Gibbs asked lightly

"Uh…no," they both responded with a quizzical look.

"Good!" Gibbs said with a smile, "Because you don't leave this room without my permission. You set foot out of here without my say so and you'll regret it."

Two nodding heads acknowledged the warning and Gibbs returned to his desk.

Tony sighed heavily as he looked at the task ahead of him.

"I guess we best get on with this Probie."

Tim grunted a reply and started to right one of the shelves.

"Gimme a hand to lift this!"

Tony sniggered, "Guess you didn't do weightlifting at High School either!"

Tim scowled and folded his arms defiantly, "Tony, I don't want to do this either, but we don't really have a choice. Now we either work together and get this done before seven o'clock or else we continue arguing and end up spending the night drowning in pencils. Personally I want to have a life after seven o'clock."

Tony opened his mouth to respond to McGee's last remark, but sighed instead, and raised his eyes to the ceiling and dropped his shoulders in defeat.

"Ok Probie, let's get this done."

At 1859, Jethro Gibbs reached into his desk drawer and took a small object from it and placed it discretely in his pocket and headed for the supply room. When he got there he found that every box of pencils and carton of marker pens and stacks of paper had been neatly returned to the shelves. He noticed a small pile of broken stationery to the side and smiled.

"We're done boss," Tony said with a weak smile.

Gibbs smirked and removed the white handkerchief from his pocket. Without a word he wiped the top of the shelf and inspected the white piece of cloth.

"What is this?" he said with a cold voice.

"Uh…it's a little dusty in here boss, the shelves are a bit…..uhm….dusty," Tim explained nervously.

Gibbs remained stern faced, "I would say that this place is not squared away."

Tony's jaw dropped, "You never said anything about cleaning!" he squeaked.

"You're done for this evening. I want the two of you in here at 0530 tomorrow ready to clean this room from top to bottom and that means the shelves and everything on the shelves. Do you understand?"

The shoulders and heads of both agents drooped with disbelief.

"I said do you understand!" Gibbs barked,

"Yes boss!" they both replied in unison snapping their heads up.

As Gibbs turned and headed back towards his desk he smiled at the mumbled groans coming from the two errant agents.

Tony leaned against the wall and put his head in his hands, "Remember your rubber gloves for tomorrow Probie, it's going to be a long day."

"I don't do bleach Tony, I'm allergic! I get all blotchy! My skin can't take this and the fumes from that stuff really affects my breathing, he can't really expect us to clean the entire room does he?"

Tony nodded, "he means the entire room McGee, the entire room."

_To be continued..._

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	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer - I do not own NCIS_

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Tony yawned as he exited the elevator at 0520 and walked to his desk with one eye closed in the vain hope that it might be the equivalent of getting half a sleep. He cursed the silence of the bullpen and threw his backpack beside his desk and slumped down onto his chair and raised his eyes to the ceiling and closed them.

He heard the ding of the elevator and the footsteps of someone approaching his desk and smiled at the cough of Tim McGee. He continued with his eyes closed,

"You know Probie, I think Gibbs is totally over-reacting to this whole thing, I mean it was an itsy bitsy scuffle and we tidied the damn place up, I really can't see what his freakin' problem is."

With his eyes still closed Tony heard McGee let out a strangled cough.

"My problem is you two playing football and fighting when you should be working"

As if electrified Tony jumped from his seat and stood up, his eyes wide at his boss. He gulped as he noticed the pale face of Tim McGee standing next to him.

"M..mm…morning…boss, didn't hear you coming in there, with McGee."

Gibbs lifted his hand not entirely unexpectedly.

"OW!"

"The two of you get to work, if we get a case you can stop, till then, you get that supply room cleaned, now move it!"

Tim put his gear at his desk and accompanied Tony to the supply room, stopping off beforehand to get the cleaning supplies from the cleaners closet.

"This seriously sucks! I mean no-one cleans this early in the morning!" Tony moaned.

Tim closed his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath, "I had nightmares about this last night" he said quietly.

Tony chuckled, "Tell me more McGee."

"I dreamt that I was locked in this room and couldn't get out and there were these huge pencils chasing me through miles and miles of shelves!"

McGee frowned as Tony instantly doubled up with laughter.

"It wasn't funny Tony, the pencils were….oh God, I know I shouldn't have told you!"

Tony put his arm on Tim's shoulder and thrust a bottle of cleaning fluid into his chest, "My sources tell me that scary pencils can be eliminated by dousing them in cleaning fluid, so get those sleeves rolled up McGee and let's start the war on stationery!"

Tim sighed heavily and took the cleaner and cloth and went to the nearest shelf and set them down. He started to remove the pile of notebooks from the shelf when Tony squealed.

"Woah, Probie! What you doin'?"

"I'm cleaning the shelves Tony," Tim frowned,

"Didn't they teach you anything at MIT?"

"What?"

"He wants this place cleaned McGee, not 'deep-cleaned', just clean, you know what that means?"

"Uh…no."

"You dust only the parts he can see or reach."

"But he said to _clean_ the shelves."

Tony quickly raised his finger to silence Tim.

"Hey! As your Senior Field Agent, I give the orders. Clean DiNozzo style McGee or else wind up this cleaning cloth and whip you silly with it!"

Tim replaced the notebooks and started to dust around the shelves at eye level.

Within 40 minutes, Tony DiNozzo had declared the room 'squared away Gibbs style' and sat down on the table.

"Sit on your brain Probie, it will be at least another hour before Gibbs decides to pay us a visit."

Tony leaned back on the table and started drumming on small tubs of paper clips and staples with two pencils.

"I really need to get myself a drum kit."

"You can't keep a rhythm! There is no way you could play the drums!"

Tony stuck out his bottom lip as his face fell,

"That's not nice McGee, I _am_ musical, I had piano lessons when I was a kid, my music teacher said I had a unique style of playing the piano."

"She didn't say that it was good though did she?"

Tony stared ahead blankly, "That woman made the witch from the Wizard of Oz look like Mother Theresa. She hated me and I hated her. It was a hate-hate relationship. I still can't listen to Chopin without hearing her shrieking voice."

Tim winced in sympathy, "It was Little League for me. I lasted three weeks till I threw up on the coach's shoes. My mom decided then that I was a lost cause when it came to sports."

Tony chuckled, "Good times Probie!"

Tim looked sheepishly at Tony for a few moments, "Uh…Tony, listen…..about what happened yesterday…I'm….uh"

Tony frowned as Tim continued,

"I'm….sorry for punching you. It was stupid and we wouldn't have ended up…"

"Don't worry about it," Tony smiled as he rubbed his jaw,

"If only you could throw a ball as well as you can throw a punch, then I'd…..."

The door handle clattered quickly and the door swung open as Gibbs stomped in.

"Hey boss!" Tony snapped as he stood up quickly from the table.

Gibbs stood tall and inhaled deeply, his nose twitching at the scent of cleaning fluid. His eyes scanned the room and then narrowed as they setlled on the two agents standing in front of him.

"You two finished in here already?"

"McGee is like Mary Poppins boss, he can clean faster than you can say 'Supercalifragi….OW!"

Tony rubbed the back of his head as Gibbs ran his finger across the top of the nearest shelf and then inspected it. He raised his eyebrow when no dust appeared.

Tony glanced at Tim and winked. His face then fell and he swallowed hard as he watched Gibbs take the small step stool and stretch up to the top of the shelf and reach his hand into the back, behind a stack of boxed staplers. As Gibbs towered above them, he turned and held his fingers up for inspection,

"What is this?"

Heavy sighs accompanied the duel response, "Dust."

Gibbs stepped down from the stool and glared.

"Get……this room…..cleaned….you have one hour"

As he stood toe to toe with Tony he kept his voice low and quiet.

"If I find so much as a speck of dust in one hour, I will find a more creative use for one of those rulers. Do I make myself clear?"

Both boys nodded quickly and then watched with slumped shoulders as Gibbs stomped out of the room. Tony stood at the door of the supply room his face clearly showing his displeasure at the prospect of further cleaning. Tim folded his arms and was about to protest the unfairness of their situation when he saw Tony's face light up instantly.

"Ha! We've struck gold Probie!"

Tim frowned in confusion as Tony continued to beam widely,

"Hey Carla! Psst! Carla, over here!"

The older woman shuffled over to the door of the supply room, stopped at the door and placed her hands on her ample hips. Tony put her arms around her and hugged her.

"Hey you! Don't get fresh with me!" she snapped with her distinctive Italian laced accent. She slapped Tony playfully on the chest.

"Carla, we need a favor…please…..a big favor, 'uno che paga i contanti', you interested?"

Carla, NCIS's resident cleaner, brightened her eyes registering the mention of cash. Despite working for NCIS for years, it was well known that the older Italian grandmother wouldn't turn down the chance to make an extra dollar or ten.

She smiled maternally at Tony and Tim, "What you two done now?"

Tony placed his arm around her shoulder and guided her into the supply room.

"We haven't done anything Carla! Gibbs just wanted us to clean this room cos we don't have any cases at the moment and he wanted to keep us occupied. But we know that we could not clean this place to your exacting standards, so that is why we, McGee and I, will pay you to clean this room by giving you…uh…fifty bucks."

"One hundred!" came the quick response.

"Seventy five!" Tim added even more quickly.

"Done!" Carla snapped and thrust out her hand.

Tony and Tim grinned as they got out their wallets and handed over the money to Carla who quickly placed it inside her bra, causing both boys to wince in disgust.

Over the next fifty minutes she worked away cleaning the room from top to bottom until the air smelled fresh and there was no speck of dust to be seen. Tim managed to usher her from the room just moments before Gibbs marched down the corridor.

He walked into the room having a sense of déjà vu and eyed the two boys suspiciously. After inspecting shelves and obscure areas of the room he smirked and then stood in front of the two younger agents.

"Good job" he said quietly and began to stare at them in silence.

A few moments later Tony and Tim began to wilt under the intensity of the stare and Gibbs eventually decided to bring things to a close.

"Your behavior was completely out of order. If I have to break a fight up between you two once more, trust me, I will be the one who will be causing the bruising and they will not be anywhere you would show Ziva! Now I want both of you to get back to your desks, start acting like adults and quit the fooling around!"

Tim and Tony eyed the floor with the required amount of remorse to allow Gibbs to quit chewing them out.

"Ok….get out of here," Gibbs growled.

There was no hesitation as they scarpered back to their desks quickly.

The day rolled on. Jethro Gibbs looked at his watch and took in a deep breath, at 1820 it was almost time to end the long day, made even longer with tedious paper work. He stood up and eyed his three agents working away quietly.

"Go home!" he barked.

It did not take long for the entire team to get their gear together and head for the elevator. As the elevator doors swished open, Carla exited with her mop bucket in hand. Tony and Tim paled instantly, recalling that they had not warned her not to mention anything to Gibbs about their arrangement.

"Special Agent Gibbs," she said with a smile.

Gibbs quickly smiled back politely.

"You really should find another way to occupy these young boys, they could never have cleaned that room as good as I did. I think you are trying to work me out of a job!"

Gibbs frowned and then raised an eyebrow as he realized exactly how the supply room had become so clean.

He opened his mouth about to read the riot act to Tony and Tim when he felt the sharp smack to the back of his head.

"And don't think of taking it out on these boys, for showing some initiative, or else you and I will be having a little chat like last time!"

Gibbs gulped as Carla raised her eyebrow and then walked off towards the stairwell.

The eyes of Ziva, Tim and Tony went wide, accompanying their open mouths at the sight of their boss getting whacked upside the head.

With a nod of his head, Gibbs stepped into the elevator and whacked the button.

His voice was cold and firm but perfectly clear,

"Any of you say one word and you'll be counting paper clips till Christmas."

THE END

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_A/N Eventually finished. Sorry for the delay folks. Hope you liked this last chapter._


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